Aftermaths, Part 77

by Geri ([email protected])

Rating: Mostly PG-13, but NC-17 for overall story

Pairing: Snape/Lupin, Theodore/Blaise

Warning: AU; events that occurred at the end of Order of the Phoenix were significantly altered from the book.

Sequel to: Always, Summer Vacation, For Old Time's Sake, Three's a Crowd, Return of the Raven, Phoenix Reborn, and Phoenix Rising.

Summary: The various characters deal with the aftermath of the war, and Snape and Lupin try to build a family together with Theodore and Dylan. However, some people are unable to let go of the past...

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Hob, who belongs to William Mayne; no money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
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"Say, Lavender, wait up!" Seamus called as they were hurrying down the hall between classes one day.

"I'll be late for Potions class!" she protested, but came to a halt. "Well, what is it?" she asked, trying for a casual tone of voice, trying not to look too expectant or eager.

"Well, um...uh..." Seamus stammered as Parvati and the other girls watched. He hadn't wanted to do this in front of an audience, but the girls never seemed to go anywhere alone! "I was just wondering if you'd...um...maybe like to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Lavender said with a smile.

"Does that mean 'yes'?" Seamus asked hopefully.

"Yes!" Lavender laughed.

Seamus grinned in relief, and Damien came running down the hall, calling, "Parvati!" He sank down on one knee in front of her, held out a single long-stemmed red rose, and said, "My lady, would you do me the honor of consenting to be my date to the Yule Ball?"

Parvati accepted the rose, sniffed at it, smiled delightedly, and replied, "Of course."

Damien took her hand and kissed her fingertips as she giggled. "Then you have just made me the happiest man in the world!" he declared dramatically.

"This is all very touching," Ginny said in a dry voice, "but we're going to get detention if we're late to Snape's class."

Snape's sixth-year Advanced Potions students ran laughing down the hall, and Seamus sighed and shook his head. "That Slytherin makes the rest of us look bad in comparison! I wonder if he's been taking lessons from Rosier?"

"Maybe we should take lessons from Rosier," Harry said, only half-joking. "I wonder if Pierce stole that rose from the greenhouse?" Maybe Sirius was right, after all...

"Then he'd better hope that Professor Sprout doesn't find out about it!" Seamus laughed. "So...do you have a date to the Ball yet, Harry?"

"Not yet," he replied. "I was going to ask Ginny, but I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"Better not wait too long," Ron warned him. "Remember what happened to me in fourth year!"

"I hear there are a lot of guys who would like to ask Ginny out," Seamus added.

"Really?" Harry asked, looking alarmed.

"Better hurry up, Potter," Seamus said with a grin; it was easy for him to joke about it now that he'd finally asked Lavender.

"I've just been, you know, waiting for the right moment," Harry said. "I wanted to catch her alone, not ask her in front of the entire school."

"Girls seem to travel in packs," Seamus sighed. "I swear they don't go anywhere alone, not even to the bathroom!"

"Yeah, that's true," Ron mused. "Have you ever noticed that they always go to the bathroom in pairs? What's up with that?"

But Harry finally did find a quiet moment, after Quidditch practice that afternoon. He asked Ginny to help him put away the equipment, and Seamus and Ron winked at him and made themselves scarce.

"The guys could have helped instead of running off like that," Ginny grumbled. "Still, I suppose Ron needs the extra study time. But he'd better really be studying and not goofing off playing cards or something!"

"Say, Ginny?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Harry?" she asked distractedly as they stowed away the case containing the Quaffle and Bludgers.

"You look really nice today," he blurted out, attempting to follow Sirius's advice.

"I do?" Ginny asked, startled, then blushed a little. "I'm all sweaty from practice."

That was true, and it was also true that her hair was disheveled from exertion and the wind. But it didn't make her look any less pretty. Harry suddenly realized that he thought she looked beautiful while playing, with her hair streaming out behind her as she chased after the Quaffle, and her face full of intensity and determination. It had started snowing towards the end of practice, and there were little clumps of snow melting in her hair; he had to repress the urge to reach out and brush them away. "Well, you do," Harry said, his face turning even redder than Ginny's. "Look nice, I mean."

"Thanks, Harry," Ginny said, still looking startled, but sounding pleased as well. Harry hesitated, thinking that he should probably ask her to the Ball now, but wondering how he should go about it. Should he just ask casually, the way Seamus had, or should he make a big production of it, the way Damien had? Well, for one thing, he didn't have a rose on him, and for another, he'd probably look stupid...

While he was mentally waffling, Ginny interrupted his thoughts by saying, "Harry?"

"Huh?" he asked, too preoccupied to come up with a more intelligent response.

"Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Harry stared at her in shock, and Ginny laughed at the expression on his face. "Well," she said playfully, "it was beginning to look like you weren't ever going to get around to asking me yourself, so..."

"I was!" he protested. "I was just working up to it!" Then he laughed, suddenly relieved that his problem had been solved, if in a rather unexpected way. "Sure, I'd love to go with you, Ginny."

"Great!" she said, smiling widely and blushing again. "Well, I'll see you later, Harry!" Then she ran out of the equipment room.

"Wait a minute," Harry said to the empty room. "Was she asking me as a friend or a girlfriend?" She had seemed pleased by his compliment, but she had run out of the room, not lingering behind after he'd agreed to go the Ball with her. Sirius said that if a girl avoided being alone with you, it was a sign that she just wanted to be friends. Then he shrugged and grinned. Well, at least they were going to the Ball together; he supposed they could figure out the rest of it later.
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As Snape's seventh-year Advanced Potions class ended the next day, the students lingered behind in the hallway outside the classroom talking.

"So who are you two going to the Ball with?" Parvati asked Millicent and Pansy.

"Miles is coming to escort me to the Ball," Millicent said smugly. "Dumbledore is allowing alumni to attend."

"Ooh, you'll be the envy of all the girls!" Lavender squealed. "An older man and a professional Quidditch player!"

"No, I think Granger will be the envy of all the girls," Millicent said with a sly smile, and Hermione laughed good-naturedly.

"What about you, Pansy?" Parvati asked.

"I don't have a date yet," Pansy admitted.

"Well, Doherty doesn't have a date yet," Millicent said, "if you don't mind going with a younger man. Or maybe I could see if Miles could get one of his teammates to escort you--"

Justin Finch-Fletchley, who had also lingered behind after class, suddenly looked alarmed, and took a deep breath and marched up to the cluster of gossiping girls. "Excuse me," he said. "I--I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Ball with me, Pansy."

Pansy's jaw dropped, and not just the Slytherins, but all the students stared at him in shock. "He's crazy!" Susan Bones exclaimed softly. "No Slytherin would ever go out with a Muggle-born!"

Hannah looked just as shocked, but she said uncertainly, "Dylan would."

Pansy stared at him in stunned silence for so long that Justin started to turn away, saying, "Never mind; forget I--"

"Yes!" Pansy suddenly shouted.

Now it was Justin's turn to look shocked. "What?"

"Yes, I will go to the Ball with you," Pansy said firmly.

A relieved smile spread across Justin's face. "That's great," he said. "Um...what color dress will you be wearing?"

"I don't know," Pansy replied. "I haven't bought one yet. Why do you ask?"

"Because I wanted to get you a corsage," Justin replied, "and I wanted to make sure that it matched your dress." He blushed a little and said shyly, "That red dress you wore last year was really pretty."

Pansy flushed with pleasure, but she said, "Oh, but I couldn't wear the same dress to the Ball two years in row."

"Too bad," Justin said wistfully.

"She'll wear the red dress," Parvati declared, and when Pansy opened her mouth to protest, added, "we'll make it over--add some embroidery and beading, maybe alter the skirt. It'll look like new, trust me!"

Pansy closed her mouth, and Justin said cheerfully, "Great! Then I'll get roses for the corsage. See you later, Pansy."

"See you," Pansy said, and the Hufflepuffs walked off.

"You're going to the Ball with Finch-Fletchley?!" Millicent exclaimed. "But he's a Muggle-born! Your parents will have a fit! Your grandmother will have kittens!"

"Oh, so what?" Pansy said flippantly, tossing her hair back. "What are they going to do, disown me?" Her voice turned just a little bitter. "It doesn't matter if they do, because Patrick is the heir, and he'll inherit everything. I'm just the girl, so I'm not important."

"But it might ruin your chances of making a good marriage later," Millicent argued.

Pansy shrugged. "I don't really like any of the boys that my family thinks are good candidates, anyway," she said. "Justin's handsome, and he's nice, and he must like me a lot if he was willing to risk humiliation by asking me out in front of everyone."

"He's got guts," Theodore said, looking a little bemused, "to ask a Slytherin out."

"I never thought Hufflepuffs were brave," Pansy said thoughtfully, "but he did come to help out in the field hospital during the final battle. And he didn't run when the Death Eaters attacked; he stayed and helped the rest of us fight them off."

"Do you really like him that much?" Millicent asked. "To risk getting disowned over him?"

"I don't really know him that well," Pansy admitted. "I'm not saying I want to marry him. But I'm tired of being a good little pureblood daughter. I don't want to marry some guy I don't like just because he's rich and my family thinks he would be a good catch." She held her head up high, her eyes gleaming defiantly. "I can earn a living for myself if I have to. If that werewolf girl, Kyra, can make her own way in the world, so can I! My grades are good enough to be a curse-breaker; I could apply to work at Gringotts, or maybe I'll go work for Ali Bashir and travel around the world. You know, I don't know why more women don't head pureblood families--like the Blackmores or the Donners."

The students slowly began walking down the hall to their next class, still excitedly discussing Pansy's date and the possibility of her being disowned. There was a short break between classes, and Snape, who had overheard everything, went to his office to meet Lupin.

Snape was still shaking his head when Lupin walked into the room. "What's wrong, Severus?"

"My Slytherins have been corrupted," Snape said, and explained what had happened.

Lupin burst out laughing. "Good for Pansy! I admit, I never expected that of her, but I guess I underestimated her!"

Snape scowled at him. "Easy for you to laugh. It isn't you who will have to listen to the Parkinsons screaming in outrage, demanding to know how I could have let such a thing happen. And Priscilla's bound to tell my mother about it, and then I'll hear about it again from Lady Selima..."

Lupin chuckled, "I'm sorry, Severus, but it's not your responsibility to tell the students who they can or can't date."

"Tell that to the Parkinsons," Snape said sourly. "It's all your fault, you know. And the werewolf's. And Blackmore's. And--"

Lupin cut him off with a kiss. "We only have ten minutes left before class starts. Let's argue about this later, shall we?"

Fifteen minutes later, Lupin fastened up his robes, saying, "We'll be late for class, Severus."

"They won't start without us, Lupin," Snape said, looking much calmer now. He gave Lupin a quick kiss on the lips and turned to leave.

"By the way, Sev?" Lupin called.

"Yes, Lupin?"

Lupin smiled at him, his blue eyes twinkling mischievously. "Will you be my date to the Ball?"

Snape gave him a disgusted look. "Teachers don't have 'dates,' Lupin. We're there to be chaperones, not to have a good time."

"Well, I plan to have a good time," Lupin informed him. "And I want you to be my date."

"It's not like I'll be going with anyone else, Lupin," Snape said sourly.

"Does that mean 'yes'?" Lupin asked.

Snape heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. "If you must be so childish about it, yes, I'll be your 'date'." He added in a voice heavy with sarcasm, "Unless you'd care to take Bleddri."

"Thank you, Sev," Lupin said, beaming at Snape happily, then hugged him tightly. "I know it's a silly little thing, but it made me sad that we couldn't openly 'date' when we were students. So I'm happy that I can be your date to the Ball now."

Snape's expression softened, and he wrapped his arms around Lupin, pressing his lips against Lupin's silky hair. Then he disentangled himself, cleared his throat, and said gruffly, "That's enough of that, Lupin. We're already late for class."

Lupin gave him one last kiss, then hastily exited through the fireplace. "Silly werewolf," Snape grumbled to himself as he headed back to the Potions classroom, but there was an unusually tender look in his black eyes.
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"Are you crazy?" Ernie Macmillan asked his housemate later in the dorm that evening. "Asking out a Slytherin? Weren't you afraid she'd laugh in your face?"

"A little," Justin admitted. "Well, okay--a lot. But she didn't laugh in my face." He grinned. "She said yes!"

Susan frowned. "But the Slytherins have called you nasty names like 'Mudblood'."

"I never liked Pansy until the end of last school year," Justin said. "Although I did think she looked really gorgeous in that red dress at the Yule Ball." He grinned sheepishly as his housemates stared at him in shock. "But there was no point in mooning over a Slytherin girl, especially one as stuck-up as Pansy used to be. She never would have given a Muggle-born like me a second look. But...she's different now. She changed, after the war--a lot of the Slytherins did. She and Millicent came to work in the field hospital when the Death Eaters attacked the school. They were scared; they didn't really want to do it, but they came along to protect Lavender and Parvati. I always thought of Slytherins as sneaky, but I thought that was a brave and loyal thing to do--as loyal as a Hufflepuff, even. She worked hard, and didn't complain about getting blood on her robes when she helped treat the patients--this is the same girl who worries about breaking her nails or getting sweaty in Physical Defense class. And when the Death Eaters attacked the hospital, she fought alongside the rest of us. I think that's when I started to think of her differently. She's a lot different than she used to be. She's a lot nicer, not as snobbish. Isn't it obvious? The Slytherins all love Professor Lupin now, when they used to sneer at him back when he first started teaching here."

Susan said nothing, and sat there lost in thought, wondering if she and the R.A. were wrong about the Slytherins, after all.

Tristan scowled and asked, "What if she's just setting you up? Maybe she's going to stand you up, or make fun of you at the Ball. That's the sort of prank a Slytherin would find funny."

"She's not like that," Justin said, quietly but firmly. Tristan opened his mouth to argue further, but Justin cut him off. "I'm willing to take the risk. We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

Zacharias Smith was frowning a little; he didn't entirely approve of his friend dating a Slytherin, either. But he could see that Justin's mind was made up, so he tried to lighten the mood by slapping Tristan on the back and joking, "You'll understand when you get older, Tristan--guys are always willing to risk making fools of themselves over pretty girls!" Tristan continued to scowl, but said nothing more.
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Slytherin House was abuzz with gossip that evening, with everyone talking about Pansy and Justin going to the Ball together. But Draco was strangely distracted, and didn't seem to care that his former sort-of girlfriend was now seeing a Muggle-born Hufflepuff. He stood in one corner of the common room, his hands in his pockets, fidgeting nervously and shifting his weight back and forth from one foot to the other. Finally he went over to where Serafina was sitting alone, studying beside the fireplace.

"Avery?" he asked.

"Yes?" Serafina replied, without looking up from her book.

"WouldyouliketogototheBallwithme?" Draco mumbled.

"What?" Serafina asked, looking up.

"WouldyouliketogototheBallwithme?"

"Draco," Serafina said irritably. "Will you stop mumbling? I can't understand a word you're saying."

"I said, would you like to go the Ball with me?!" Draco shouted, then turned bright red as everyone in the room turned to stare at him.

"Ah...um...ah..." Serafina stuttered, stunned into speechlessness.

Pansy hastened over to her side. "Yes, she'd love to," she answered firmly on Serafina's behalf.

"But--" Serafina started to protest.

"Great!" Draco said, sounding relieved. "Glad that's settled! Well, talk to you later, Avery!" Then he ran out of the room before she could contradict Pansy.

"Hmm," Millicent said thoughtfully as she joined Pansy and Serafina. "Never thought she was Draco's type, but they have been spending a lot of time together recently..."

"What did you do that for?" Serafina demanded of Pansy. "I don't want to go to the Ball!"

"Well, don't you like Draco?" Pansy asked in a reasonable voice.

Serafina's pale face flushed slightly. "Well, sure," she said hesitantly. "We're...friends, sort of. But--"

"So you don't want to hurt Draco's feelings, do you?" Millicent purred.

"But...but..." Serafina stammered. "I hate balls and parties! I'm no good at dancing and dressing up and stuff like that!"

"Oh, we can take care of that!" Pansy said cheerfully, grabbing Serafina's hands and hauling her to her feet.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"I'm going to have Parvati make you over, the way she made over me and Millicent for the Ball last year," Pansy told her.

"I don't want to be made over!" Serafina protested, as Pansy took her by one arm and Millicent took hold of the other. "I don't want anyone curling my hair or sticking me in lace and ruffles!"

"Parvati has better taste than that," Millicent assured her. "She won't make you wear ruffles."

"I said I don't want to be made over!" Serafina yelled as the two girls hauled her towards the door. "Let go of me! I'll hex you if you don't let go of me!" But it was an empty threat, as the other two girls had a firm grip on her arms and she was unable to reach her wand.

"It's for your own good, Avery," Pansy told her. "Don't worry, you'll be beautiful when Parvati is done with you."

"I think you and Draco will make a sweet couple," Millicent added.

"I don't WANT to be beautiful! And we're not a couple!"

The other Slytherins stared at each other as Pansy and Millicent dragged Serafina out of the dorm, still protesting. "Well," Blaise said, after a long silence. "I'm sure glad I'm not a girl!"

Pansy and Millicent dragged their victim to Gryffindor Tower, and called out to Parvati and Lavender. Serafina had given up struggling, but glared at her two housemates and said, "You two are so dead when I get hold of my wand."

"Feisty," Millicent said with a grin.

"Good," Pansy said, grinning back. "She'll keep Draco on his toes."

"Why are you doing this?" Serafina demanded. "What do you care whether I go to the Ball with Draco or not?"

Pansy shrugged. "I feel sort of bad that my family made me dump him. He's not really a bad guy, just a little full of himself."

The picture of the Fat Lady swung aside, and Jack Sloper glared at them. "What's all the racket out here? Don't you belong in Slytherin?"

"Oh, get out of the way, Sloper," Parvati said, rudely shoving him aside. "They came to see me and Lavender."

"You ought to move in with the Slytherins, already," Jack grumbled.

Parvati and Lavender pushed their way past him and joined the other girls out in the hall. "So what's up?" Parvati asked.

"Avery's been invited to the Ball," Pansy replied.

Lavender raised her eyebrows. "Really? By who?"

"Draco," Millicent answered.

"Oh," Parvati said, "I didn't know you two were seeing each other."

"We're just friends," Serafina grumbled, but she blushed a little.

"We want to make her look nice for the Ball," Pansy said. "But as you can see, she needs a little work." She tugged gently on a lock of Serafina's limp, mousy-brown hair, and Serafina glared at her.

"I see," Parvati said, looking Serafina over carefully. "Hold on a sec while I get a few things." She ran back into the dorm, and emerged carrying her bookbag. "Okay, let's go to the Incantations workshop. I'd invite you into the dorm, but Sloper and his stupid friends would make a big fuss about it."

They trooped down to the workshop together, Serafina following a little sullenly, but no longer needing to be manhandled. "I still think this is dumb," she complained as she took a seat on a stool in the workroom.

"You said back in Slytherin that you didn't want to be beautiful," Pansy said curiously. "But who wouldn't want to be beautiful?"

"It's not wise to attract too much attention to yourself when you live with Death Eaters," Serafina replied quietly.

A look of horror filled Pansy's eyes. "Did your father...or the others...did they ever...?"

Serafina shook her head. "No, nothing like that. It was just wise not to stand out too much. Lucius Malfoy and some of the others tried to stand out and curry favor with the Dark Lord, but that wasn't really a smart thing to do. If you stand out, you might be the first one to be rewarded when things go well, but you'll also be the first one to punished when things go wrong."

There was an awkward silence, then Lavender said, "Well, you don't have to worry about the Death Eaters anymore. Wouldn't you like to look pretty for Draco?"

Serafina flushed. "Isn't it better if a boy likes you for yourself, and not just because you're pretty?"

The other girls frowned, as if such a thought had never occurred to them. "Well, of course," Parvati finally said. "If Draco asked you out, that must mean he likes you the way you are. But when you like someone, you want to look nice for them. And this is a special occasion; it's not like you're dressing up just to go to Potions class or something."

"I guarantee Draco will be dressing up for you," Pansy said with a giggle. "He's a little vain; he always makes sure to wear expensive new robes for dances and parties, and I've seen him preening in the mirror more than once. Come to think of it, maybe that's why he was so concerned about his nose getting broken in Physical Defense class--he didn't want to look ugly for the Ball!"

"I hate dressing up," Serafina said sulkily. "And anyway, I can't afford a fancy dress."

There was another awkward silence; they all knew that most of the Avery's money had been taken by the Ministry and that Serafina's mother was working at The Three Broomsticks to support them now. "It doesn't have to be something expensive," Parvati finally said. "In fact, I think something simple would suit you better."

"And I know you're not totally broke," Millicent pointed out. "Your mother sent you a package last week; didn't she send you some spending money for Christmas? You gave us two Galleons for Lupin's present."

"Yeah, but I'd rather spend it on Lupin than on something stupid like a new robe," Serafina replied. Then she added reluctantly, "I still have some money left. Not a lot."

"I know your mum would be happy if you went to the Ball," Pansy said slyly.

"Yeah, I know," Serafina said glumly.

"Well, then," Parvati said briskly. "Why don't we get started? Hmm, your hair is so fine that it looks limp at this length. Maybe if we cut it--"

"You can make me over, but I refuse to cut my hair!" Serafina said firmly. "And if you try it, I'll make you break out in warts!"

"So," Parvati said with a smile, "you do have some feminine vanity after all!" Serafina's face turned crimson. "Okay," Parvati said agreeably. "We won't cut it, but maybe if we braid it..." Serafina squirmed restlessly as Parvati worked on her hair. "Oh, this is so much fun!" Parvati said happily.

"I'm not your doll, you know," Serafina said grumpily. "Ow! You're pulling my hair!"

"Sit still!" Parvati scolded. "I can't help it with you squirming around like that!" She tied the bulk of Serafina's hair back into one long, thick braid, and framed each side of Serafina's face with several thin braids. "These would look better with beads on the ends of them," Parvati mused. "Purple ones, I think, to match your eyes. You know, you really have beautiful eyes, Serafina. I don't think I've ever seen anyone with that particular shade before." She took a makeup kit out of her bookbag and began applying cosmetics as Serafina protested. "Oh, stop grumbling," Parvati said. "I'm not going to cake it on. Just a little kohl, to enhance your eyes, and maybe a little blush." She stepped back and frowned thoughtfully, then cast an Illusion spell on Serafina's robes, turning them into a deep shade of violet to match her eyes.

"Wow!" the other girls gasped, and their eyes widened. Serafina frowned, looking anxious.

"One last thing," Parvati said, and loosened the main braid. "That's just to give it a little wave and volume. It'll look better if you leave it on longer, though. You should wear it braided all day, and then loosen it just before the Ball." She pulled a mirror out of her bag and held it up. "Okay, you can look now."

For a moment, Serafina did not recognize her reflection in the mirror. The girl staring back at her was a stranger, surely too lovely to be herself. The texture of the just-unbraided hair made it look less limp, and the thin braids that remained seemed to frame and call attention to her heart-shaped face. It was only when she saw the violet eyes--enhanced and somehow made more dramatic by the kohl, as Parvati had promised--that she realized it really was her reflection. The girl in the mirror was...pretty.

"Wow!" gushed Lavender, as Parvati regarded her creation smugly. "You look beautiful, Serafina!"

"It's true," Pansy agreed. "I can't believe what a difference a little makeup, a new hairstyle, and a different-colored robe make!"

"The violet robe really makes your eyes stand out," Millicent added.

"Draco's eyes will pop out when he sees you," Parvati said with great satisfaction.

"I don't care if his eyes pop out or not," Serafina said, but she looked just the tiniest bit pleased.

"And we need to order you a new robe," Parvati added, reaching into her bookbag again. "I have a catalog here from Gladrags Wizardwear. We could place an order and pick it up on Hogsmeade day. It doesn't have to be something expensive."

"I don't think they carry that color of violet in their normal off-the-rack robes," Pansy said. "You would have to special-order it, and that's expensive."

"We can get a plain robe in a light color and enchant it," Parvati said dismissively.

"I'm not going to turn into a pumpkin at midnight, am I?" Serafina asked dryly.

Parvati smiled at her. "We could use a simple Illusion spell, like the one I just used--Master Satoshi's class has come in pretty handy, after all. Or if you're worried about it wearing off, we could ask one of the Professors to help us a put a permanent enchantment on it. Or we could just dye it. That woad stuff we were using in Potions class used to be used as a dye, after all. It certainly turns our hands blue enough! I'm sure there must be something we could add to it to make a purple dye; we could ask Dylan for help."

"Very well," Serafina sighed, making a great show of reluctance as she took the catalog from Parvati. "But nothing with ruffles or lace!"

 

Part 78